News

21Feb

Initialing of Transport Community Treaty between EU and Western Balkan 6 Begins

15th February 2017, Sarajevo –Minister of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ismir Jusko, initialled the Treaty on establishing a Transport Community between EU and the Western Balkan 6 partners, thus joining Albania and Montenegro whose delegations were present and participated in the initialing of the Treaty just a few days prior, on 10th February, in Brussels. The Albanian delegation was led by Director General of Policies in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Albania Thimjo Plaku, who is also a SEETO Steering Committee Member, whereas the Montenegrin delegation was led by Minister of Transport and Maritime Affairs Osman Nurković.

Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Khaldoun Sinno, who was also present at the initialling at the EU House in Sarajevo, gave a statement on this occasion saying that “today’s event represents the end of a long process which began in 2008. It is also, and above all, the beginning of new era of cooperation between the EU and the Western Balkans. There is a strong hope that, after Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina others will follow in the coming days or weeks.”

The objective of the Treaty is to establish an integrated market for infrastructure and land, inland waterways and maritime transport and to align relevant legislation in the Western Balkan region with Community legislation. The aim of the Treaty is also to generate favourable conditions to make the Western Balkan transport sector more efficient with a net positive impact on growth and job creation. The Treaty will furthermore be instrumental for the implementation of the WB6 Connectivity Agenda reforms.